Blizzard Beach
This is one of two water parks in Disney World. The other park, Typhoon Lagoon, I have been to a couple of times before, but I had never been to Blizzard Beach before so I wanted to try it on this trip. Having Magic Bands made the logistics of a water park much simpler - I didn't have to bring any money or cards. I wore my swimmers (including rashie and board shorts) to the park, as well as sunglasses (with a strap) and my Magic Band. All I had in my bag was a towel from the room and a change of clothes, so I felt comfortable leaving it on a seat while we went on the rides.
The main issue we faced was that soon after the park opened there was lightning in the area, which caused every single attraction to close. I'm not sure exactly how long the closure was because I didn't bring a watch with me, but it was probably around an hour. I thought that the CMs could have done a better job of communicating how long they expected the closure to be. I think the ride closures and the accompanying rain did a good job of keeping the lines short for the rest of the time we were in the park though.
Green Slopes
We skipped the two high-speed body slides here as we didn't fancy getting a wedgie. Also these slides don't allow you to wear glasses, which would have been a hassle.
Chairlift - This is just like a chairlift on a skiing slope and takes you up to the top of the green slopes. It's a fun ride although it's main purpose is to reduce the number of stairs you need to climb. The wait was quite short soon after opening but there is also a single rider line if the wait does get long.
Teamboat Springs - This is a raft ride that seats up to 8 people per raft. This was probably my favourite ride in the park. The ride experience was a bit different depending on whether you were facing forward or backward so I would recommend trying to ride it twice and sitting in a different part of the raft each time.
Purple Slopes
You have to climb stairs to get to these slides, but there is a conveyor belt to bring the mats and rafts up to the top so you don't have to carry them.
Toboggan Racers - This is a straightforward mat slide with 8 people sliding simultaneously. The mat has handles so you can pull up to go faster or push down to slow down. At the end don't push down too early (you will stop and have to walk along the rest of the slide) or too fast (you will get water in your face).
Snow Stormers - This is also a mat slide with a bit more of an interesting layout but without the racing element to it. I found it very awkward to start moving at the start of the ride. Unlike the Toboggan Racers, this ride ends in a catch pool so you can pull up on the handles for the whole ride for maximum speed.
Downhill Double Dipper - This is a single-person inner tube ride. There are two slides which race against each other. Make sure you are sitting high in the inner tube so that you don't drag against the slide and slow down. Part of the ride is open and part is enclosed. The slide ends in a catch pool that is relatively deep (more like a regular swimming pool) - be prepared to go under water if you come off your tube at the end.
Red Slopes
There are three slides here but they share the name of Runoff Rapids and are all inner-tube rides. Only two of the slides were operating when we were there; in addition, only single-person tubes were available (apparently there are supposed to be two-person tubes as well). Here you have to carry your tube from the bottom of the hill up a lot of stairs - it's a long, tiring trek.
We didn't feel up to climbing the stairs more than once so I tried the enclosed slide and my brother tried the open slide. The enclosed slide was very dark so you couldn't see where you were going - kind of like the water slide version of Space Mountain. The open slide seemed to be a slower, more relaxing ride.
Cross Country Creek
This is the lazy river which goes around the whole park. There are lots of tubes just floating in the water (most were for single adults, but there were also some two-person tubes and child-sized tubes) so it's easy to jump in and out wherever you like. You can only get in and out at certain points, so when you get in, check the map to see which exit you want to get out at. For the most part the ride is relaxing, but there are a couple of sections where you get sprayed with water. It's also quite difficult to keep your group together, as the water sometimes moves at different speeds in different parts of the river.
Fantasia Gardens
This is one of two mini golf areas in Disney World (the other being Winter Summerland near Blizzard Beach). It is near the Swan hotel, which can be accessed by boat or on foot from either Hollywood Studios or Epcot's International Gateway (if catching the boat from Epcot, it's quickest to get off at the Boardwalk and walk from there).
There are two courses at Fantasia Gardens - the Fairways course is more like a regular golf course in miniature, while the Gardens course is a more traditional mini golf course, themed to the movie Fantasia. We played the Gardens course and had a lot of fun, even if I am pretty terrible at mini golf.
Any of the mini golf courses are included in the Water Park Fun & More ticket or you get vouchers if you book a package, but in both cases they are only valid until 4pm. If you want to play after 4pm you have to pay. We played in the afternoon while hopping from Hollywood Studios to Epcot, which worked out pretty well except that the ubiquitous Orlando rain hit just as we were finishing up. The actual courses are out in the open (as is the walk from the course to the Swan hotel and the boat) but there is a small video game arcade at the entrance that was a handy place to shelter from the rain.
Downtown Disney/Disney Springs
Since Pleasure Island closed, Downtown Disney (now called Disney Springs) is mostly restaurants and shop, although there are a few attractions. I generally found the shopping disappointing - I was expecting to do most of my souvenir shopping here but there were many items that were available in the park or in the hotel shop that I couldn't find anywhere here. My tip would be to buy things when you first see them (use hotel delivery if they are awkward to carry) and then return them if you change your mind.
Characters in Flight
This is a tethered helium balloon ride - it looks like a hot air balloon but the height is entirely determined by pulling on or releasing the cable that connects the balloon to the ground. It can carry up to 30 people if the weather is good; less if there is any wind. If the weather is bad then the balloon is completely grounded - this happened on our last trip so I had never been in the balloon before.
I was a little disappointed in the view. Some major landmarks like Spaceship Earth were visible but mostly we were looking out at expanses of bush. We did get an interesting birds eye look at the construction going on in Disney Springs though. Plus the experience of going up in a balloon was fun.
Since the balloon can hold at most 30 people and the process of loading, going up and down and unloading again takes at least 10 minutes, this must have about the lowest capacity of any attractions in Disney World. We waited almost an hour in the early evening - I suspect the waits are probably lower during the day though.
Disney Quest
I quite enjoyed Disney Quest the first time I visited it almost 10 years ago, but it has pretty much had no updates since then so everything now seems very dated. I'm not surprised that the whole place is closing next year. But for now it's included in a Water Park Fun & More ticket (or as a voucher with a package), so we made a quick visit. One of the big problems was that most of the attractions have low capacity and therefore long lines, and in general I don't think most of them are worth the wait.
Pirates of the Caribbean - This was fun even if the graphics weren't very good. You go inside a model pirate ship with the ocean projected on screens, and use a helm to steer and cannons to shoot at enemies and collect treasure.
Virtual Jungle Cruise - This was a good concept - you sit in an inflatable boat and paddle with real paddles, and a screen shows where you are going, with the boat moving as you splash down rapids, etc. But we never figured out how the movement of the paddles actually affected the movement of the boat, so it quickly became frustrating.
Animation Academy - This is like the attraction at DCA (and the now-closed attraction at Hollywood Studios) where you learn to draw, except in this version you draw on a computer rather than on paper. We learnt to draw Goofy. I liked that it was much easier to erase my mistakes. The class is free but you have to pay $5 to get a printout of your drawing.
Fix-It Felix Jr - There were a bunch of video game cabinets with this game from Wreck It Ralph (probably the only recent addition to Disney Quest). I'm terrible at this kind of game but it was a cute touch.
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